Plastic 'envelope' can protect buildings.

• Author: Beidel, Eric
• Position: Defense Technology Newswire - Bayer MaterialScience LLC Hygard BL80 Shock-Wave Sentinel - Brief article

* A Pittsburgh-based company has developed an "envelope" that can protect buildings and their occupants against bombs.

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Bayer Material Science LLC's Hygard BL80 Shock-Wave Sentinel consists of laminated, transparent polymer panels and a structural steel frame supported by a concrete foundation. It is constructed to absorb Shockwaves from an explosion so that a building stays intact and activities inside can continue with minimal disruption, company officials said, (t can be decorated and integrated into the design of a building to maintain a seamless architecture.

"We realize we're going to have to customize this to new- buildings or retrofit to existing ones," said Roger Rumer, marketing leader for the public business sector at Bayer Material Science.

The company is just beginning to put its product out in the marketplace, he said. It is geared toward embassies, government agency buildings, courthouses and other critical infrastructure. The risk is increasing for high-visibility buildings, and...